By Jiminy!
by Mrs Dionysius O'Gall
Summary: Written for the Luke and Lorelai reunion 2007 Ficathon.
1. Noise

Quiet. It was quiet, too quiet. Lorelai Gilmore had just returned home after yet another long day at her parents'. As the days following his release from the hospital turned into weeks, she became more and more confident that her father had weathered the worst of the assault on his health. Seeing her dad, twice now in just a few short years, so pale and so very, very small in a hospital bed had taken its toll on her. Running her business and helping her father made her tired, but since she was newly single, with no obligations at home, Lorelai felt buoyant...not happy, but not unhappy either--rather like a giant weight had been lifted off her shoulders. 

And just like that, ole' Jiminy Cricket popped up on her shoulder and whispered that surely, a certain diner owner was definitely part of her feeling this way. But Lorelai quickly quashed that thought, sadness washing over her. 'Oh no you don't, Miss Lorelai,' the Jiminy on her shoulder chimed in, i''you buttered your bread. Now sleep in it!'/i'

Disgusted with both Jiminy and herself, Lorelai tossed her coat onto the couch and sank down into it. It was true: Luke had been such a godsend at the hospital, helping Emily Gilmore of all people, while Lorelai's own husband was nowhere to be found. And now there were consequences for everything that she'd done since she'd run off to have not-even-great-sex with Christopher back almost a year before...

Yes, it was strange to have quiet in her home again. Lorelai looked around her noiseless home; even Paul Anka was silent. His baleful gaze seemed to mock her from his perch on his new doggy bed. She stared at Paul Anka, and lost the contest. Pathetic, she decided, losing a stare-down with a hyperactive and neurotic dog.

And it was still quiet; even Jiminy had exited.

Lorelai was familiar with noise; Lorelai was comfortable with noise. Noise had always filled her life, especially during the good times. Joyous noises, sad noises, it didn't matter to her: noise meant life going on around her. Noise meant not being alone. Her heart and soul were so finely attuned to noise, that she could actually hear even the snow falling in a world where everyone else heard only silence. It was safe for even Paul Anka to conclude that in Lorelai's world, the absence of noise was generally not good.

The beauty of noise was that it came in so many forms: everyday noises and special noises (dirty!) and obnoxious noises that hurt the ears...and then there was that special silence that was almost a noise unto itself: that special silence that she rarely heard. That silence that now filled her universe. In fact, it seemed to Lorelai at that very moment that no louder silence had ever existed in this world.

Well, something had to be done about that! She sighed in frustration, causing Paul Anka to give up watching her and turn his head to study his front right paw.

Yes, this was definitely the kind of silence that begged for interruption. Just like several weeks ago, when she awoke after a restless night to face the discomfort of a silent morning. But then Luke called her, so early in the morning, exuberant and doing the Luke-equivalent of a babble. His excitement at winning partial custody was palpable. He was back to being the Luke she...

Coffee. That was what she needed. The good kind, with a dose of the clamor and the clangor of the town to break the quiet.

Up popped Jiminy Cricket again. No way could she venture to the diner, he reminded her.

But Luke loved the letter she wrote, and it did get the job done...and he had been the one to approach her for it--he could have, after all, Lorelai rationalized, have his lawyer make the request...

'Well,' said Jiminy,i'When your heart is in your dream, no request is too extreme.'/i

"I wonder," Lorelai said aloud just to break the noise, "what Luke would think if he read my original letter."

Lorelai wandered upstairs into her bedroom, and reaching down between the mattress and the box spring, pulled out the original yellow legal pad she'd used to compose Luke's custody reference.

'Hey,' she realized, 'I don't have to hi--keep this here anymore!'

She sank down into the pillows and took a deep breath.

'To whom it may concern,' she silently read to herself.

Crickets. Way too quiet.

Lorelai cleared her throat.

"To whom it may concern," she read aloud in a stentorian tone. "In the nearly 10 years that I have known Luke Danes, I have come to know him as an honest and decent man. He's also one of the most kind and caring persons I have ever met."

Tears were welling in Lorelai's eyes, just as they had while she was writing the letter.

"I'm a single mother, and I raised my daughter by myself, because my kid's dad was simply not interested in being a part of her life. He only recently (after she was almost done with high school) came back into her life. But in spite of that, once Luke Danes became my friend in this town, I never really felt alone."

'Except for now,' she thought, before continuing.

But Jiminy Cricket was back. 'No need to be so blue, doll,' he squeaked. 'A gal I once knew said to always let your conscience be your guide. Think about it, doll. Ya really alone?'

Well, Luke had said he would go back to being the guy who pours her coffee...

She returned her attention to the letter.

"Luke and I have had our ups and downs over the years, but through it all, his relationship with my daughter, Rory, has never changed. He's always been there for her no matter what. He was there to celebrate her birthdays. He made sure she had cake and balloons, and even brought ice when no one else remembered. He was there cheering her on at her high school graduation, even when her father was too busy to attend. In fact, Luke has been a sort of father figure in my daughter's life. He was also instrumental in helping his nephew, Jess Mariano, when Jess's parents were unable to cope with him. His love and guidance, though tough, enabled Jess to make it to adulthood and become a published author. However, with his own daughter, Luke wasn't given the opportunity to be there for her first 12 years, but he should be given that opportunity now. Once Luke Danes is in your life, he is in your life forever."

'Was that really true?' she wondered. Luke Danes had been in her body, her life, her soul, was he really there forever?

_'Let your conscience be your guide! Let your conscience be your guide!'_ squeaked Jiminy, switching shoulders.

Lorelai shrugged Jiminy off her shoulder and continued. "Luke has shown himself to be an outstanding father, focused on that aspect of his being. I know from personal experience that he will set aside all personal happiness in order to focus on the welfare of his child. I also know from personal experience what an amazing gift that is, to be the object of his focus, and not to allow him access to his daughter would be to seriously deprive her of all this man has to offer, and he offers so much."

'It's a good thing I took some of that out of the final copy,' Lorelai thought.

_'A fine conscience I turned out to be!'_ Jiminy continued.

"Shut up..." Lorelai was now seriously irritated.

"Luke Danes and his daughter should not be deprived of a parent-child relationship. As a mother, I have only briefly suffered through a separation from my kid. I cannot imagine what it would be like to have that happen forever. It would be an injustice to deny his daughter the experience of having Luke as a father. Thank you for your time. Sincerely, Lorelai Gilmore."

Suddenly, Lorelai remembered all the food Luke had brought the family when her father was in the hospital. "His daughter won't ever starve," she giggled, addressing Paul Anka. "And the coffee Sookie brought over that time she bribed me to babysit sure was delicious!" She exchanged her special "come over here, boy" signal with Paul Anka, and he obliged. As she ruffled through his fur, she added, "I should really show him what I wanted to write..."

The damn cricket piped up again._ 'Let your conscience be your guide! Let your conscience be your guide!'_

Paul Anka chose that moment to bark in agreement.


	2. Ten Steps

A while later, Lorelai found herself inside Luke's. Stupid, stupid, stupid. What was she thinking? Maybe it was an automatic reflex...but then again, her body had not gone through these particular motions in almost a full year. Walk, one foot in front of the other; walk, walk across the square and over to...to where she shouldn't be. But it really wasn't her fault; it wasn't a conscious act on her part...for a new noise had entered her universe. The damn cricket was gone, replaced by a pitter-patter, as droplets of rain began to fall. 

Maybe it had just been an act of hair-preservation, saving her hair from flatness and possible ensuing frizz, that caused her to walk into the place she no longer believed she was worthy of entering.

Now the diner, that was a great place for noise. The sound of Luke, Lane and Cesar's voices rising above the murmur of the customers and the percussion of plates. But as Lorelai stood inside the diner door, it was only after the jarring jingle of the diner door bells ended that Lorelai realized just exactly where she was and what she was doing.

Standing. In silence. Clutching the draft letter she'd so long kept hidden, now in plain view in her hand. No one else was here. Except for Luke.

What was she thinking?

Jiminy Cricket piped into her thoughts..._'Lorelai! So, this is where I find you!'_

Lorelai wrinkled her brow. Damn, he was back.

_'How do you ever expect to be a real woman, Lorelai?'_ Jiminy continued. _'Look at yourself. Playing with fire! Remember what I said about temptations?'_

'I'm so not tempted,' Lorelai thought.

And yet, she couldn't move, standing still in the quiet diner.

'God, what was she thinking?' Luke stared across the diner at the woman who had just entered. Business had tapered off due to the late hour and the spring rain, and he was the sole person confronting the intruder.

But they were not alone. Lorelai had a strange look on her face, the kind she always had whenever she was carrying on a...

Luke forced his thoughts into a new direction. No good could possibly come from remembering the way that Lorelai...

'Better think about baseball,' he thought.

Instead, Star Trek intruded into his thoughts.

It seemed to Luke that the silence between them was now a real entity, like that cloud creature on Star Trek. He could almost see that cloud of silence coming towards him, filling what suddenly seemed to be the deep dark chasm of his diner with icy cold frost. Frost that could sting him, hurt him. Frosty silence that now immobilized him in mid-motion, his arms chest-high, frozen, holding a dishrag, a player in a surreal version of musical chairs.

There were a lot of chairs in the diner.

Lorelai remained equally immobile as she stared across the space between him. Her mind, done berating Jiminy and herself, frantically calculated the options available to her. Door. Counter. Space between. Door. Counter. Space. Door. Luke. Luke. Counter.

Cross? Or not. How many steps?

'Less than ten,' her brain prompted. 'It's just the floor. Just ten steps.'

Jiminy was back. _'Remember what I said about temptations?'_

She chanced a glance at Luke and the counter.

_Pleasure Island,'_ Jiminy squeaked, now perched on her head.

Her hand tightened its grasp on the letter, as she realized where her thoughts were going. 'I should just give him the letter and leave,' her mind continued.

Yet the space between them yawned back at her, a dark void she was not even sure she could traverse. And who knew what was on the other side? 'But it's Luke. The town Luke. Our Luke. My Luke!' her mind supplied.

Was that a new mug on the shelf next to the one Rory had donated to the diner when she was 14 and back from a field trip to...

Jiminy rubbed his wings together again.

Lorelai forced herself to peer across the void to the other side, conscious of Luke, Luke! standing across from her.

Not an accidental meeting, this, while coming out of a store. No no. What was she thinking, coming into the diner? A few raindrops never hurt anyone, and weren't half the shampoos in the world rainwater-soft? This was not a good place for her to be...

She shivered.

The last time she'd been here, she'd demanded he come to her, come outside, where she doled out a hysterical ultimatum on a warm spring night. And now on another spring night, a little rain had caused her to come back to Pleasure Isl...to the Forbidden Zone and frozen her to the spot just inside the diner door.

Lorelai couldn't let Luke think that she had screwed up by coming in here, so she decided that she was going to be the first to move. 'It will all work out,' she thought, 'as long as I avoid his eyes. Just put the letter on the counter...and leave.'

She peered at him through the leftmost corner of her left eye, and yes!--this was going to be a surprisingly easy task since he was dourly perusing the countertop. She looked down at the floor, then peered across the void. Ten steps. Ten steps, just ten steps...

Then Luke had to do it.

"Lorelai," his voice husked…barely discernible.

Ah, one of the beautiful noises. She knew that noise, the timbre of his voice when he...The sound of Luke's voice hit her full-on like the crash of a wave breaking against the shore.

And the reaction it provoked in her? Relentless. Inevitable.

Wow, those ten steps sure were huge. No way could she cross the diner.

_'But you need him,'_ Jiminy prompted.

Was Jiminy Cricket right? Did she really need Luke--not just as the guy who poured her coffee back in the day, not just the guy who helped her family when they were in crisis, but Luke. Who had once been her Luke.

Just ten steps, she remembered.

"Lorelai," he repeated.

_'Ten steps, doll,'_ Jiminy encouraged her. _'Remember the time he put strings on you and passed you off as a puppet? Show him, doll!'_

But there were definite Luke hazards in front of her: his goodness, his kindness, the way that he was simple yet complex.

She should turn now, and leave.

Stupid, stupid, stupid. She had risked it all when she came that spring night to ask him to elope. She had risked so much for him, for them, and given herself up to help him find himself in his new role as father. Jiminy was right, she had been his puppet. And then she risked it all because she loved him. So very much, more than she loved herself.

The silence continued; Luke did not move. Had he even moved when he said her name moments before?

The selfish Lorelai thing to do would have been to kick his ass to the frozen curb outside the diner that morning when she first met and found out his secret. But she did not take the expected path, opting instead to be the perfect, understanding fiancée. Just like Gwen and Gavin.

Yet still, it came to a disastrous end, in his rival's bed. And now there was this great diner void, and she should just turn, put her hand on the door...and she couldn't bring herself to cross the room to talk to him, but she couldn't leave because then the noise! Those damn diner bells.

Stupid, stupid, stupid! Why had she come here? She was no longer the Mimi of a few years ago. She was the breaker of hearts, the ruiner of relationships and now of a marriage.

"Lorelai? Lorelai?"

Luke's voice now had a tinge of concern for her in it. She knew that sound so well...

Her eyes closed, a tear slipped through her lashes from under her lids.

'Say something,' Jiminy prompted. 'Say something. You always say something. Except when you really, truly, should.'

"I'm sorry, Luke. I...I shouldn't have come here..." Her words were whispered, barely audible, but it was Luke who was across from her, Luke who knew her so well and could always hear her except when she didn't say something.

But he sure heard her when she said she slept with Christopher and now he heard her as she turned around, grabbed the doorknob, made the bells jangle, and walked out of the diner into the rain.

Luke stood, immobile, Lorelai's departure not registering until the noise of the bells stopped as the diner door closed behind her. Finally he looked up and toward the door.

Luke's eyelids fluttered shut as her words flooded back to him. "I slept with Christopher." Her stony expression still burned his heart. Luke's head ached; he wanted to bury his head in his hands, and try to rub the pain and sorrow and weariness that he thought were gone, away, out of his life. He wanted her noise in his life and not the silence. He wanted to reach out to her, to stop her, to tell her he was sorry that he had driven her to him and could they just stand still for a second and start over?

Lorelai stood outside the diner door, catching her breath after the harrowing experience of leaving the diner. Two customers left Dooses's as she peered across the street. It was that time of year when Taylor festooned the town square with white twinkly lights, and in the rain they looked like tiny shooting stars. In spite of herself, she smiled, happy that she had actually done it: approached and entered the diner...

It took several seconds until Lorelai realized she'd been holding her breath. As she watched a car cross in front of her, she stood, paralyzed at the curb. Unable to move, nearly unable to breathe, standing there, hands empty.

Hands empty!

The letter. She'd dropped it as she reached for the door.


	3. Saying Something

"Lorelai." 

He'd somehow come after her, and was now looming over her. "You should come in out of the rain."

Lorelai silently thanked the universe that Luke was doing the talking. Standing so close to him, she didn't think she'd be able to utter a word.

"I heard...about...you...and the divorce..."

Suddenly her mouth went dry as she thought back to the time when she walked away from him that warm May night. Why was she always remembering their parting? After all, she remembered so little of the details, of how she ended up in that bed. Almost nothing. Just that she'd now lost almost 12 long months of her life...of their middle. She'd heard how Luke had retreated even more, how he'd spent almost all his time with his kid, and of course the custody battle. She wouldn't have blamed him if he never spoke to her again, yet he was unfailingly kind and polite during their chance encounters. And when he heard about her father, he made the decision to come to her family's side. She smiled, remembering how she felt when she saw him standing there, with his bag of takeout salvation, concern showering down on her like the gentle snowflakes that showered her when she mailed his letter.

The letter. She knew what it had cost him in terms of pride to come and ask her, beg her for the reference. And now, she saw, he had it, was holding it against his chest.

She looked down at the sidewalk, listening to the sound of the rain as it hit concrete. She remembered just how much she had lost. The jolt of electricity at his touch, the good feeling when he smiled at her, the warmth when she knew he was pretending that he was just tolerating her. And no other man had ever been able to, just by simply letting his hand linger above her knee, render her primordially weak with anticipation.

Luke stretched his arm across her, clutching the draft letter, as if to stop her.

"What's this?"

"I still love you," she whispered.

His expression turned to panic as the rain intensified. "No you don't," he managed to stammer.

"Yes, I do."

They stood there in the rain for what seemed like a week, Luke with his arm still outstretched, and Lorelai rooted to the spot as the rain began to change from gentle to slightly agitated.

'Say something. Make a noise to drown out the rain, Lorelai,' she thought.

But there was only the sudden and silent surprise of her throwing her arms around him, with no opportunity for her to panic, no time for her to do anything but surrender to her heart and suddenly press her lips against his. She felt his arms slip around her, and felt the letter crumple between their chests.

And then there was no more thinking, only the frantic patter of the rain and the pressure of his lips as he disengaged, took a deep breath, and returned to continue, and intensify, their kiss.

'Say something.'

But how to talk when his mouth was pressed upon hers and apparently kissing her back?

'Say something.'

"I never stopped loving you, Luke..." she finally murmured, "even when I mar..."

"Shhh..." Luke admonished.

She was surprised to find that she could still stand, that the raindrops hadn't swept her down the street, across the state and over to New Haven to some river, and then miles out to the ocean.

Awareness and memory moved over her, prickling, touching her as his lips slid down her throat. Lightening-like trails of sensation tingled up and down her spine as the rhythm of her heart changed--the sound of their hearts combined, loud.

"Stay."

Had she really heard him say that?

He must have, because his lips and arms were gone, and she was turned towards the diner.

He was waiting for her, his silhouette softly backlit by the few lights still shining in the diner. He was poised to open the door, to enter, bells ready to make their noise. He radiated tension; she could feel his waiting, his longing for her. She could feel his heart.

He continued to watch her, his eyes wild as they shone through the now-dark night air to meet hers.

She began walking toward the diner door. Toward him. 'Only five, maybe six steps,' she thought. 'Less than ten steps.'

Closer and closer, until she stood next to him.

"Come in. You're wet...the rain..." His tone was a mixture of sternness and concern, with an undercurrent of longing tugging at her heart.

He reached out and touched her wet hair.

She slowly followed him up the stairs and into his apartment.

"I missed this place."

He turned to stare at her, subtly moving closer. Though they had shared a kiss, they still were not touching, yet stood close. At that moment, he reminded her of Paul Anka when he first came to her; requiring careful movement, a hand brushed across his back, don't spook him, for he has been hurt before.

But she couldn't help herself, and pushed her body into the shelter of his, pressing tightly against him, letting him feel how she was trembling in concert with the beating of his heart.

They stood like that for what seemed an eternity, until her arms somehow pulled him even closer. Her mouth instinctively moved to his, her tongue touched his, and then all hell broke loose as his mouth hovered over hers once more and then voraciously tasted hers.

His hands began to rove, touching her, caressing her wet hair, holding her head in his hands at arm's length as if he needed bifocals, only to return in closeness to kiss her. And her hands moved along his side, and around to his back, and she must have said "I'm sorry" a thousand times between kisses.

And then he stopped.

"Stop it, Lorelai. Just stop."

Stunned, Lorelai took a step backward. She had never seen him this pained and angry, had never seen such raw pain in his eyes. But maybe, if she just...

He pushed her away from him.

"Stop it, Lorelai."

"Sorry."

"Yeah, you're sorry, Lorelai," he said. "I refuse to let you tear my life apart again."

"What the hell, Luke? You're the one that kept her a secret, you're the one who called me a cartoon character, you're the one who was never all-in..."

"You're the one who married someone else, Lorelai."

Lorelai couldn't respond.

She turned to leave.

"I don't want to lose you," Luke said, "I can't lose you again."

She stared back at him. 'Why not, Luke? Say something Luke, tell me why you don't want to lose me. Tell me Luke, Tell me how you feel,' she thought during another long expanse of silence.

"You know how I feel about you, Lorelai. How I felt about you for eight years...before we..." He took a step closer. "And I know how you feel about me..." he shrugged towards the sodden letter.

"No, Luke, you don't know," Lorelai managed to croak.

He stepped close to her again, until they were almost face to face.

_'Don't look at him, or it's all over,'_ Jiminy suddenly reappeared to advise Lorelai.

But Luke's hand gently lifted her chin so that she had no choice in the matter.

And then this time, it was he that took the initiative.

Luke pressed his mouth against hers, roughly, and pushed Lorelai back towards the apartment door, against the wood and glass. "Mine," he grunted, and captured both her hands in one of his, pinning her hands up over her head against the door. Right smack-dab in the middle of the 'Williams'. Forcefully, his lips pulled and tugged at her lower lip, and then his other hand was all over her, over her breasts, everywhere, touching her.

There was no doubt that he wanted her, and no doubt that she wanted him.

"Please..."

And with that word, he suddenly let go of her hands and pulled her toward the bed, not bothering to do anything but pull down their jeans. Lorelai reached out to tug at his shirt, murmuring "Wet", but Luke instead reached for her shirt and in one fell swoop, shoved both it and her bra up over her breasts, then over her head.

'God, I hope that damn cricket isn't here...' Lorelai thought. It could be annoying having a conscience.

"Luke--" she said, then added "Stop..." and turned away from him.

Defeated, he looked at her, then gently pulled a sheet over her.

"Luke...I know what's going to happen. You'll regret this--" she waved through the space between them--"this thing we are about to do."

Luke kept busy, handing her one of his flannels, then helped her button it.

"Luke, look, please --"

"Damn it, Lorelai! What's happening?" he asked as he handed a towel to her for her hair.

"I really meant it, Luke. Every word in that letter..."

"Thank you."

"And I want to try again. Us. I want us."

"I don't want you going out in the rain again...you can sleep in..." He indicated April's "room."

"Say something, Luke."

"We'll talk in the morning, OK?"

"Thank you. Thank you, Luke. You have no idea how much I..."

"I know..." he responded.

"Hey Luke?"

"Shelf's still there. Cinnamon toothpaste in the medicine cabinet..." Luke shrugged. "Kept everything..."

Moved, Lorelai made her way to the bathroom.

"You again," she hissed.

_'Shhh! Quiet!'_ Jiminy responded, _'I'm getting out of here before something else happens.'_


	4. The Same Page

That rainy night that Lorelai spent in Luke's spare bed, the one he'd reserved for first Jess, then April, was one of the most uncomfortable ones in her entire life. 

Oh, it wasn't because the bed lacked comfort; or the room lacked coziness; but rather, because of what was not in it: Luke's warm body...and yet, he was so tantalizingly close.

She'd hardly slept at all. She could hear every single breath he took. She'd only slept in this apartment alone in a bed once before: the night of the Independence Inn fire. And that night had been excruciating, filled with sexual tension and the sounds of Luke and Jess.

But this night was worse in so many ways. She gave up counting at 41: 41 attempts she made to get out of her bed and into Luke's. But each time, she was stopped by…by Jiminy!

'I thought you said you were leaving,' she hissed.

_'Doll, I just couldn't. Couldn't trust ya,'_ he squeaked. _'You know what they say: give Lorelai enough rope, and she'll soon make a jackass of herself.'_

Lorelai was flustered, and started to bluster her way out...

_'Whoa whoa whoa, doll. That lady friend I mentioned before?'_ Jiminy continued.

Lorelai nodded.

_'Well, I tell ya, she also told me something about lies...'_

'Lies?' Lorelai attempted to ask in an innocent way.

_'A lie keeps growing and growing until it's as plain as the nose on your face.'_

She quickly regrouped before Jiminy could continue. 'Ok ok, it's true. I really want to be over there...with him.'

_'Lorelai, hmph! Lorelai! Burns me up after all I tried to do for ya. Who's yer conscience, anyway? Me or you? Well, I've had enough of this. I'm takin' the next boat outta here.'_

Lorelai heard Luke toss and turn in the other bed. They were breathing the same air, in and out, in and out, in and...

_'But,'_ Jiminy continued musing, _'you still have so much to talk about. So much to say. So much to work through.'_

'But...' Lorelai interrupted.

_'No buts, doll. Let me ask ya, two years ago, where were ya?'_

'Luke, will you marry me?' flashed through her mind.

_'And last year?'_

Her motorized attempt at being Paul Revere, riding through the night to Boston, culminating in Chris' bed, came to mind.

_'And now...'_

'I'm divorced, in his guest bed, and can't sleep.'

_'Now we're getting somewhere. Ask yerself why...'_ the crickety conscience admitted. _'Toodle-ooo...'_

And now it was morning, and Lorelai stretched and stretched, then realized what she was wearing.

Soft blue flannel tickled the tops of her thighs, and her eyes sprang open and she sat bolt upright in bed.

Oh no. Had she done it twice? Gone to someone's home and slept with him without intent to do so?

Her surroundings did not lie. She was in Luke's apartment. In Jess's old bed. She peeked around the room. It looked decidedly more feminine, she noted, then remembered his daughter.

But where was Luke?

Downstairs, probably.

Lorelai slowly got up and rounded the partition to where Luke's bed was. He was gone. But she remembered the bed, and how it was so comfortable, and so she slipped between his sheets. Burying her nose in the spot where he'd slept, she inhaled his scent, and drifted off, back to sleep.

Luke slowly made his way back up the stairs, carrying a tray with diner coffee and an unhealthy sugary assortment of danishes. 'Who could forget the crap she likes to eat,' he thought.

At the door, he stopped and thought about things, about her...and the infamous 'it'--sex--for a moment. Then he pushed the door open, and as he made his way to April's area, saw that...

"What the...?"

Lorelai bolted upright in his bed, flannel collar askew, hair an adorable mess. She blinked and squinted to look at his face. From the expression on his face and his tone of voice, she was almost certain that Luke was thinking about the same thing that she was: that they were sucked into a time warp and nothing had changed over the past year.

'He's standing there...he just has to be thinking that...Just for now, just for this moment, we have to be on the same page, right? He's brought me coffee and ooh,' "Danish!"

Luke chuckled.

In a thousand years, Lorelai would never be able to fully describe the way that chuckle reverberated though her, body and soul.

She ventured smile. 'Say something,' she thought, yet again.

"Luke, thank you for letting me stay here last night."

"Didn't want you to catch pneumonia out in the rain..." he responded, flustered.

Lorelai nodded. "Well thanks anyways. I'm just sorry that I inconvenienced you--"

Luke shook his head and immediately cut her off. "No, no problem."

And he placed the tray next to her and reached for her face.

Looking at him, Lorelai realized that he wasn't withholding any truths from her, not now, not anymore. He did love her, still, and with that thought, she began to break down. She squeezed her eyes shut, so as to keep the tears within.

After he finished gently stroking the hair away from her face, Lorelai forced her eyes open and looked at her...her...her...friend. He was looking right back at her, clearly distressed by the tear or two she hadn't been able to suppress.

It was then that Lorelai began to sense that something had changed in the room, overnight. Well for one thing, that damn Jiminy Cricket was gone, and there was something in Luke's eyes that she hadn't seen there in so long: an expression of friendship and love that erased all her doubts.

This was right, and yes, ultimately, they would be right, together.

"Luke, please kiss me?" Lorelai tentatively asked...and began to babble. "I want us to try again. I want us to be us again. Kiss me, and it can be a whatever-you-want kind of kiss...the last kiss of the old 'us', or the first one of the new 'us'."

"Geez, Lorelai, do you have to make a simple kiss so difficult?"

"Well…which one's it going to be?"

"Shut up, crazy lady." The words sounded strange after all the months apart, but as he leaned in to her, they both finally got it. They were really on the same page all along. Neither one had wanted to hurt or disappoint the other. The key would be to learn to talk about that.

"I liked that, very much," Lorelai offered in response to his kiss.

And then her hands pulled him down next to her, and there was no more talking.


End file.
